Prayers and Relief for Haiti

Our hearts are heavy and our prayers are many as we grieve with our friends, families, coworkers and relational ties in Haiti, which suffered a massive earthquake this week. Our Jurisdiction (the South Central Jurisdiction) sends many Volunteer In Mission (VIM) teams to Haiti, and several local churches are involved in ministry there. Our United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) International Disaster Response Teams are already there offering God’s grace and love. Here are ways you can respond:

1. Pray for all those involved: those grieveing loved ones; those healing from injuries; those offering relief and recovery efforts
2. Financial assistance: If you would like to give a gift to the United Methodist Committee on Relief focused on relief and recovery in Haiti, please make your check out to Grace Avenue UMC with Haiti on the memo line. CLICK HERE to make this gift on-line, please mark "OTHER" and make a note that the gift is for Haiti Relief.
3. Prepare a UMCOR Health Care Kit and deliver it to the church. CLICK HERE to download the Haiti Health Kit instructions. Forms are also available in the church office. The North Texas Conference will be shipping all collections by our districts together in a couple of weeks.They are beginning to empty the UMCOR warehouse where these are stored so some of the ones we make will go to Haiti and others will go to prepare for future diasaster relief.
4. Reserve your time to give blood ~ Give the gift of life through our upcoming Blood Drive sponsored by the American Red Cross. On Sunday, January 31, a mobile blood unit will be at Grace Avenue United Methodist Church from 8:00am – 1:00pm. Giving takes about 45 minutes. Reserve your time to give by e-mailing Laura at laura@graceavenue.org or by stopping by the Missions
   Bulletin Board in the hallway by the church offi ce.
5. Attend Grace Avenue’s Annual Chili Cook-off scheduled for Sunday, February 21 from 5:00 - 7:00pm. All proceeds from this event will go to the United Methodist Committee on Relief for Haiti Relief. More details will
   follow in the weeks to come.